What are the

Doctors’Rights? May 03, 2016 1:15 PM

ATTY. RODEL V. CAPULE RMT MD FPCEM FPCP

Makati Medical Center
Adventist Medical Center Manila
Arellano University School of Law

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 Disclosure
• I have no personal or financial interests to
declare;

• I have no financial support from an industry

source for the current presentation.

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 Reality check!!!
•Some doctors are starting to feel that the
public at large has unfairly painted them
as “professionals without any rights.”

•More often than not, we always hear

about doctors’ duties and
responsibilities.

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 ……
•Whenever a doctor is talked about,
society tends to refer to them as highly
skilled professional incapable of
committing mistakes and with absolute
expectation from patients to discharge
his duty at the expense of his rights.

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 ……

•A lot has been said about

“patients’ rights”.

•How come nobody talks about

“doctors’ rights”?

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 Why nobody talks about
physician’s rights?
•In the physician-patient relationship, the
patient is a captive consumer. There is no
other profession or business where a member
thereof can dictate to a consumer what brand
[s]he must buy .... how fast [s]he must
consume it and how much [s]he must pay
with the further condition to the consumer
that any failure to fully comply must be at the
risk of [her] own health.
- Magan Medical Clinic v. California State Board of
Medical Examiners 57 Cal. Rptr. 256 (Ct. App. 1967)
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 “Doctors have rights,
too.”
•Today we will talk about doctors’
rights!

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 Do we find
doctors’rights in the
following?
•Medical Act of 1959
•Hippocratic oath
•Philippine College of Physicians
•Philippine Medical Association

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 Medical act of 1959

•Sec. 25. Rights of respondents. The

respondent physician shall be:
1. entitled to be represented by counsel or be
heard in person,
2. to have a speedy and public hearing,
3. to confront and to cross-examine witnesses
against him or her, and
4. to all other rights guaranteed by the
Constitution and provided for in the Rules of
Court.

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 Hippocratic oath

•No mention of any right.

•However, it did mention a curse –

“However, should I transgress this Oath

and violate it, may the opposite be my
fate.”

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 Code of Ethics of the
PMA
ARTICLE II
Duties of Physicians to their Patients

•Section 2. A physician should be free

to choose patients.

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 PCP Code of Ethics
a. The parties may jointly waive their right
to a formal hearing in writing by opting
to submit their position papers in lieu of
a hearing. [2.5.3, Sanctions and
Procedure]

c. The parties shall be accorded the right

to have counsel present to assist them.
[2.5.3, Sanctions and Procedure]

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 Right to refuse patients
•Primary physician (for walk-in patient)
•On-call physician
•HMO health provider
•Company physician

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Right to refuse participation
in the treatment
•“[C]onscientious objection implies the
physician's right not to participate in what
[he] thinks [is] morally wrong, even if the
patient demands it.”
-Pellegrino, 30 Fordham Urb. L.J. 221, 223
(2002)

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 What must he do?
•If physicians feel they cannot provide a
service for these reasons, physicians are
expected to communicate clearly, treat
patients with respect and provide
information about accessing care.

•A physician must show that he/she acted

responsibly in making it clear in a
courteous way to the patient what the
limits are of his/her medical practice.

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 Right to be paid for
services

•When a physician treats a patient, it has

an enforceable claim for full payment for
his services.

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 Right to refuse a patient
who has not yet paid your
professional fee?
•Yes, provided arrangement is made
for another doctor to take over.

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 Right to withdraw
•The physician has a definite right to
withdraw from the case provided he gives the
patient reasonable notice so as to enable him
to secure other medical attendance. Such a
withdrawal does not constitute an
abandonment.
•A physician is under a duty to continue
attendance upon the patient until the
conditions for his rightful withdrawal are
complied with.

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 Right withdraw
•Subjected to verbal abuse
•Patient and family members became
hostile
•Disagreement with treatment plan
•Disruptive or difficult patient
•Inability to work with a colleague

•DUTY NOT TO ABANDON

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 Right to avail of medical
futility doctrine

•Refusal to render futile treatment.

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 Right to refuse to be an
expert witness
•Fact witness v. expert witness

•A physician shall assist the government

in the administration of justice in
accordance with law. He/she maybe
accorded a fair and just remuneration
when called upon as an expert witness.
-Duties of Physicians to the Community Article III
Section (2) Code of Ethics of PMA

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 As a witness, right to
refuse a subpoena
•Rule 21 Section 10 of the Rule of Civil
Procedure:

“This Rule shall not apply to a witness

who resides more than one hundred
(100) kilometers from his residence to
the place where he is to testify by the
ordinary course of travel.”

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 Other Rights
1. Doctors and their practices have the right to
set up criteria, guidelines and boundaries for
accepting and working with their patients.

2. Doctors have the right to ask patients for the

information they need to care for them, and
request that patients fill out their forms
honestly.

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 ……
3. Doctors have the right to select the
kinds of treatments they believe in and
it’s up to the patients to decide what
treatment they wish to accept, in mutual
cooperation.

4. Doctors have the right to set up the

practice model they choose, and decide
if it is in true healthful service and
supports their desires and beliefs about
their work.
- Haas 24
Who will advocate for the
rights of doctors?
•In the long run, it is the doctors
themselves. A conscious effort to
understand these rights is the key to
preempt conflicts that might arise in the
course of a doctor-patient relationship.

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